First Bedlam

Even though I've lived in Oklahoma for 18 years now, I'm still more of an NFL guy, when it comes to football, than a college guy. But it has come to grow on me. I watch quite a bit college ball these days. Yet I remain largely unmotivated to attend college games live. And it's not like I'm averse to sports venues. I've been to 24 pro baseball venues and multiple pro football, hockey, and basketball venues, so I'm veteran as far as that goes.

Today, however, my hand was forced by the last minute illness of my brother, who then could not use his season ticket. It's difficult to convey the magnitude of this moment. My brother has been attending University of Oklahoma home games for almost his entire life. He doesn't miss them in general. And a bedlam game against Oklahoma State? No way he misses those. Yet there I was at 6:30 in the morning learning that I had been "called up" to fill his spot with just a few hours to head to the stadium.

While I was generally displeased by many of those same things that have kept me away from these events in the past (ridiculous traffic and parking, shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, impossible concession lines, etc), the actual game experience was quite excellent. Of course, it helps that OU won. By a 27-0 shutout nonetheless. And that it wasn't cold considering it was a late November day. I believe it was 71 degrees when I left the game. So I must say, if it had to happen, the conditions were probably the best possible, for which I am thankful.

Here's a halftime picture from the game.

Christmas Concert (well, sort of)

I took Darby to the All American Rejects concert tonight as an early Christmas present. She's a big fan, like many her age. Compared to her first concert experience last month at U2, this was quite different, according to her.

Unlike the U2 show, where she says she had plenty of room to move around even though she was close to the stage, tonight we were squished like sardines. Think this looks bad? It got worse. This is not, by the way, a knock on the venue (OKC's Bricktown Events Center).



Add to that the fact that there were three bands and a small stage (meaning no room for multiple setups... each band had to take 30 mins plus to setup between shows), and we had a long, long night. From doors opening (which we were in line for) until the end of the show, it was four hours and ten minutes. That's right 4:10. Half a work day. Except standing the entire time. No sitting whatsoever (no room). Also? No beveraging. And no restroom breaks (for fear of losing our pretty decent spots). By the end of the evening, my legs were very, very sore. But then, I'm old.

So, the three bands were Anberlin, Taking Back Sunday, and, of course, AAR. I hadn't heard of Anberlin, but I liked them quite a bit. I may have to explore them further. Loyal readers know that I'm a big fan of TBS, who I was personally there to see, as I caught them the last time they were in town.

TBS was actually more entertaining to me this time around, perhaps because we were so much closer to the stage. However, since they were not the headliner this time, their set was considerably shorter. But even with the shorter set, they managed to sneak in a few tunes from the new record as well as most of the favorites from the previous three. Though I will admit that I could have done without the newer tracks in favor of more of the favorites. The new album just hasn't grown on me as quickly as the previous releases.



AAR put on a very entertaining show. However, I have to say that I was disturbed with a couple things. First, I could have done without the lead singer being shirtless the entire time, and second, knowing that their music draws a large under-15 crowd, I think we all could have done without the over-the-top profanity and innuendo (I'm being nice in my wording here). That said, they really do know how to put on a show. As expected, they played all their big hits. I was a little disappointed there weren't more first album tracks. But their Last Song/Encore combo really put the show away quite nicely.



So, to sum up, it was a good show overall. A bit long. Maybe a little pricey considering the seating arrangements. But I'm glad we went, and most importantly, Darby says she had a GREAT time.

Holiday Pictures

We took family pictures today. The girls look beautiful as ever. I'm not super happy with how I represented the family this year. But what's done is done.

Here's a couple pictures of the girls from just before and then during pictures. I'll upload the finished product when they're ready.







UPDATE

Okay, here they are, the finished products. Just ignore the part that includes me.










As always, you can find these and many other pictures in the family album.

Friends in Low Places?

Of all the places you'd expect to run into an "international music sensation", a craft fair in small town Oklahoma (Owasso to be exact... population <20000 is still small, right?) is not one I'd expect to find on the list. Or at least not high on the list. But wouldn't you know it, Darby happened to bump into one while working a booth at the fair in support of her mom's business. Nice.

Here is a picture of Darby with Garth Brooks. Who knew he was a Mets fan. Gah!

Kicking Down the Wall

This morning, Shelby got to take part in a special school event commemorating today's historic anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. She bought a couple raffle tickets on Friday, and she won the opportunity to "kick down the wall". The event was covered by KWTV channel 9, our local CBS affiliate, and is supposed to air during the 5:00pm broadcast.

Normally I try to only post 2-3 pictures per blog entry and then link to the photo album for the rest. But in this case, it seemed best to convey the entire event, though they will later appear in the album. If you come back later, I may also have a video posted, and maybe a link to the TV story if I can find it.


Here's Shelby on her big day.



Here's what the "wall" looked like. It is cereal boxes decorated with graffiti by the students of Shelby's school.



Shelby in front of the wall.



Shelby at the wall.



Shelby being interviewed by channel 9.



Shelby (partially obscured by the crowd) at a presentation by one of the teachers, who showed the crowed her piece of the actual Berlin Wall acquired during a school trip to Germany back in 1990.



Shelby kicking down the wall.



As the domino effect didn't go quite as planned, Shelby had to walk along the wall, kicking it down. Here she is near the end. You can see that the rest of the middle school kids have practically joined in the rally.



Here she is being interviewed at the end.



And one more interview, with the school's media department.



And there you have it, the Berlin Wall (or a semi-replica thereof) has been kicked down. By my daughter.




Update
Here's the video from tonight's newscast courtesy News 9:

And here's a link to the same video on the News 9 site, in case there's an issue with the one I embedded. Also, there's an associated story at News 9, though both in the story and the video they got Shelby's first name wrong.

See? Eee... Oh!

For the first time in the 40-year history of my company, the CEO came to visit the OKC office. He gave a GREAT talk. But then, that's what they pay him for.

Halloween Weekend Wrap

Halloween came and went pretty quickly. Here are some pics from the weekend.


Friday night I went to a friend's Halloween party. I'm supposed to be a Jabbawockeez, though I think my results varied.



Here's Darby and Shelby before heading out on Saturday night, followed by a pic of each of them out trick-or-treating. Notice Darby's live pet rat in her hands, which she took with her, saying "witches always have their pet rats with them".